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To: Don Green who wrote (59963)	11/2/2000 3:08:42 PM
From: Don Green	Respond to of 93625

Transformer fire temporarily reduces foundry output in Taiwan O.T.?? By Semiconductor Business News Nov 2, 2000 (10:51 AM) URL: semibiznews.com HSINCHU, Taiwan -- Semiconductor plants here today were temporarily throttled back by a fire that damaged an electrical power transformer. The fire caused some wafer fabs in Hsinchu's Science-Based Industrial Park to reduce their production rates, but the overall impact was believed to be minimal. United Microelectronics Corp., the world's second largest silicon foundry company, said the power outage cause its supplier of nitrogen gas to stop deliveries for several hours today. United Industrial Gases (UIG) was operational again later in the afternoon and delivering nitrogen to UMC's fabs here. News reports from Reuters said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd.--the world's largest foundry supplier--also reduced its production during the power outage. However, TSMC also said the impact was minimal. According to Reuters, the power outage caused an estimated NT$100-to-200 million ($3-to-6 million) in losses at 16 technology companies, based on information provided by the administration agency at the industrial park. UMC issued updates about the power outage during the day. The foundry company said it was able to continue running its wafer-processing lines by cutting back on the use of nitrogen at some equipment. The foundry company also used backup supplies of nitrogen until UIG was able to resume normal deliveries. Power outages are a major concern in Hsinchu, which is the home of nearly all of Taiwan's wafer-processing facilities. Last year's powerful earthquake killed thousands of people in Taiwan, but the quake did not cause major damage to chip-making plants in Hsinchu. However, the loss of power in the quake did cripple Taiwan's semiconductor industry, underscoring infrastructure problems in Hsinchu